H2O: Atlantis
by jeanne.summers
Summary: AU Charlotte and the girls have come to an uneasy and very fragile truce, with the upcoming moon tensions are high leaving Charlotte to do the only thing that will avoid blood shed: accept the SGC's job offer and join an expidition which may not return.
1. Mermaid Rising

Okay so this is... well it's a fuller version of a snippet I did in 'Five Phases' another H2O Charlottecentric fic I did a while back.

This was mostly for fun and because it wouldn't stop naggling at me, so feel free to be brutal of to rip it of if you like, most of my work is rip-off-able.  
And if I got stuff wrong I'm sorry, if you point it out I can try to fix it.

anyway... enjoy... or don't...

* * *

H2O: Atlantis

Mermaid Rising

* * *

Dr. Elizabeth Weir sat at her desk staring at a personnel file. The doctor had already spent months picking members for the formerly theoretical expedition to Atlantis, finding the best scientists in all the relevant fields. She had already looked at a handful of marine biologists and marine botanists but the Doctor whose personnel file she held was both. Only twenty-six Doctor Watsford was the leading expert on marine sciences, she would be perfect for the expedition but still… she was so young.

* * *

Charlotte wasn't sure what to think, the paper work she had been shown _looked_ legitimate, but the story – aliens, stargates, _Atlantis_ – the story was a little hard to swallow… even for a mermaid. She watched the air force officer who had 'brought her into the fold,' his face was perfectly blank. Mentally she ranted against humans and their stupid jokes, out loud she said just two words.

"Prove it," the man nodded and tapped a small device in his ear.

"Prometheus, go ahead." There was a sudden light and Charlotte found herself in an entirely different place. Instead of the white deck of her research yacht and the panorama of clear ocean she was in a mid-sized grey room with several people all looking at her. She didn't have to look at the viewing screen behind her to know she was no longer on earth, her magical senses were screaming with disorientation and her sudden proximity to the moon. She turned around anyway and the sight of Earth took her breath away.

"When do I leave?"

* * *

Major john Shepherd was a pilot, a good pilot, heck he was a damn good pilot, and apparently he was also part alien. Well, maybe not part alien but he did have a freaky alien gene that let him mind meld with alien technology. He'd already said yes to taking part in expedition, he'd had no other choice, if he'd said no General O'Neill would have removed him from the Antarctica assignment and that was his last chance to fly. He glanced out over the river as he flipped his coin again trying to decide which item he would take with him as his 'one personal item,' not that he had much stuff anyway. He hadn't really needed that much since it was just him, he hadn't even had a dog, and even if he wanted one it was to late now; by the end of the week he'd be in another galaxy.

* * *

She was cheating, sort of, but Charlotte had discovered early on that she could bend the rules that applied to normal humans; she had to be careful of course, contrary to what the other girls believed Charlotte was not an idiot, she did understand the need for secrecy.

Still this meant Charlotte could get away with a lot, like smuggling. Not that she would use the magic bag for anything so crass; it was after all a mystical artefact that the others had created for her. The irony of mermaid wish magic: they couldn't grant their own wishes.

She had jars of wish goo wrapped in shirts to avoid breakage; she had a large book she had filled with things she had discovered to be true about Mer-folk, admittedly some of it she had learned from the Sirens in Greece and the Selkies near Cornwall, the tome also included ancient spells that she had not dared to try and archaic songs she had picked up during her vacations, and samples of various sea plants with good healing properties she could grow in fish tanks, which were also in the bag.

Charlotte was also sneaking her jewellery box, filled with trinkets and baubles she had recovered from shipwrecks, and moonstones, a semiprecious stone that acted like a magical battery for mystically inclined sea creatures. She'd even shoved her magical, and somewhat psychotic, 'looking-glass' into the bag. Almost everything she had that meant something to her over her ten years as a mermaid had found its way into the bag.

Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to take her boat with her, so she had called the only four people in the world she could trust to take care of it, ironically they were the same four mermaids she was currently at 'war' with.

Although she had mellowed out since her teenage years, since her early days as a mermaid, she was still at odds with the only other Mer-folk on Earth. Despite the uneasy truce, they were still wary of her, just as she was still wary of them; had the 'moon of mortality' happened back when they were younger she didn't doubt they would have used it against her, that moon was the most dangerous of all, stripping a mermaid of her powers forever. Charlotte suspected the quartet would still strip her powers when the moon rose in a few years time, of course they might find it a little difficult with her in another galaxy.

She had finished packing and was waiting as a human when they appeared, entering from the water access pool beneath her bed; she'd gotten the idea for it from a movie called 'mermaids.'

"Alright Charlotte," Emma said once the steam had cleared, skipping over the greeting part of the conversation, "We're here, what do you want?"

"This Ocean, this world," Charlotte said, "is not big enough for the five of us…"

"So what," Rikki cut in, "You decide to call us here for a final show down?" Charlotte snorted at Rikki's predictable demeanour and fished her keys from her pocket.

"The world is too small; if one of us, or four of us, doesn't leave this will end with someone on a sushi plater."

"Thank you Charlotte, we are all aware of that fact," Bella said in the snippiest tone she could manage.

"This is not surrender," Charlotte held out her keys, "I have a job offer, I'm going to take it."

"What does that have to do with the price of barramundi in Brisbane?" Cleo asked uncertain as she took Charlotte's key cautiously.

"This job is going to take me very far away, I may not come back – don't celebrate – I don't have anyone else to give this to, so …" Charlotte paused to take a deep breath, preparing for what she was about to say. "We may not be friends, but you four are the only people I can trust with the stuff I can't take with me, so my house, my apartment, my yacht, the car, they're all yours… until I get back… if I get back." The quartet alternated between staring at each other and staring at Charlotte.

"Where are going?" Cleo asked, jiggling the keys nervously.

"I can't tell you," Charlotte replied with an apologetic grimace, "It's so many levels of classified and besides you probably won't believe me." Charlotte averted her gaze momentarily as she remembered the cards she had made. Locating them on the dresser by the door she grabbed them quickly and all but shoved them at Bella, who was the closest.

"I have however prepared this series of postcards for you." A car horned beeped and Charlotte glanced at the door, "That would be my ride, so… bye." With a small wave she bolted through the door and out of sight leaving four very confused mermaids with a small pile of postcards, the one on top showing off a picture of a spiral galaxy and the words 'Pegasus Galaxy: wishing you were here.'

* * *

Charlotte took a deep breath as she stared at the vertical ring which would soon take her to a new start, on the ramp leading up to it the team leader, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, was giving a speech and offering everyone one last chance to back down and go home. The 26 year old marine scientist, who moonlighted as a mermaid, gritted her teeth, Charlotte _could not_ back down.

There had been a 'war' between her and the other four mermaids for a long time now, they all knew it would end badly; this was the only solution. Dr Weir didn't know if the gate would connect, didn't know if the expedition to Atlantis would happen, Charlotte did. She knew it would happen because it had to happen, if she stayed… she had considered the thousands of possible scenarios and none of them worked out well if she stayed so she had to leave, this had to work.

The wormhole opening was a sight to behold; it was like a rippling of water and a geyser of bubbles, and finally it was like looking into the surface of the moon pool, Charlotte didn't know if anyone else could detect it, but just beneath the surface lay the slightest hint of magic, the whispering promise of adventure and fresh starts.

It would have been the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen if it weren't for the shadows of despair and fear, a darkness cast by predators of immense power, they carried the fading echoes of screams. Charlotte took another breath, this one shaky; it drew the attention of the air force Major next to her.

"You Okay?" He seemed genuinely concerned so she nodded. "I'm John Shepherd," he held his hand out to her; with a trembling smile she shook it.

"I'm Dr. Watsford; you can call me Charlotte."

"You know you don't have to go Charlotte." She bit back a hysterical giggle.

"Actually John, I do… I'll be fine," mentally adding '_if the shades don't kill me._'

"Course you will, with me watching your back how could you not." His grin was so charming and infectious, she had to grin back. Beside them a young lieutenant who had been half listening to their conversation seconded John's statement and led them up the ramp. Charlotte steeled herself and stepped through the pool of not-water.

The other side was a slightly-bigger-then-medium-sized room; surprisingly there was no dust on anything that she could see, of course her ability to see didn't last for very long as she was over come with dizzy disorientation, she barely made it the ten metres from the gate to the wall before she collapsed. Charlotte slumped against the ancient wall and removed her pack breathing deeply and evenly, in and out listening to the sounds of the expedition members shifting about and then through the noise of people she heard it.

It was different and familiar at the same time, old and new and calling to her. It chanted through the walls begging for her to come, so she stood on shaky legs and followed the song down a hall way round a few bends and finally to a large window. She pressed her hands against the clear layer separating her from the outside, part of her wondering if it was glass, the most of her not caring.

It was so close to her, if only she could reach it, the ocean; _her_ ocean. The hum of currents and the whistle of rips, the steady rhythm of the tides and the perfect notes of the not-whales that swam this sea, _her_ _sea_, were intoxicating. Charlotte knew she was grinning like a mad woman, giggling like she was moon struck but she didn't care, the ocean was calling for her.

Charlotte tried to step forward into the water only to be stoped by a wall that she had forgotten was there; with a frown she tried to push herself through the wall. Her attempt was less than successful. Colonel Sumner found her a few minutes later staring forlornly through the window.

"What are you doing here, civilians were supposed to stay put in the gate room." His tone was not a happy one but Charlotte paid him no mind, too mesmerised by an ocean she couldn't reach. The colonel stepped closer to her, opening his mouth to berate her when he finally got a look out the window.

"Well damn."

* * *

Being told that the limited power supply that kept the city safe was draining rapidly had woken Charlotte from her stupor. After watching Major Sheppard and a team of military men depart through the gate in search of safe harbour Charlotte had set out in search of a safe zone were she could use her powers with out getting caught.

Luckily for her a diagram of Atlantis was on a viewing screen in what was being referred to as 'the control room.' From that she was able to ascertain the best place to work her magic from. It was as close to the centre point of the city as she could get with the power down it was, ironically, the power control room, aka the place with the dying ZPMs.

Charlotte sat herself down with her back to the ZPM pedestal and reached out for the surrounding ocean with her magical senses.

* * *

Charlotte's body felt the strain of her task, the ability that she shared with Cleo allowed her to move water, and as a side effect move things _through_ water. Although neither of them had every shifted something even a tenth as big as Atlantis without help, never mind alone.

Dr. Weir had prayed for more time and Charlotte wasn't about to let so many people die if she could prevent it. Using wish magic for something this big was too dangerous even if she was willing to reveal her secret, wishes had a habit of being not quiet what people expect without 'down to the molecule' instructions.

Which left saving the city the hard way; the other scientists had already confirmed that the city was supposed to float.

Raising the city was difficult, it was awkward and heavy, the water here was new and while it was welcoming it wasn't as eager to please her as the familiar waters of Earth were. Charlotte felt slightly detached as she worked, which made it easier to ignore the pain tearing through her body, her hold was slipping when she felt it; an _awareness_ swept through the city as the shields began to buckle.

'Power drain,' she thought distractedly, and then she understood. The gate must have reactivated, Major Sheppard had returned, and he was going to die. Crushed beneath the oceans weight because she had failed.

She was aware, vaguely, of her body hyperventilating. Sheppard's promise to watch out for her echoed through her head, no one had ever promised to look out for her since she had become a mermaid, no one until him. She wouldn't fail, she _couldn't_ fail.

A scream ripped itself from her throat as she tightened her grip on the water, it _would_ obey her. Shifting to her will the water began to part above the city, cycling down around it to push up from beneath, and the city rose.

It bobbed madly on the surface for a moment before settling into a slow and steady sway as the waves lapped at its base. In the gate area the rest of the explorers and a group of refugees cheered, but Charlotte didn't know that, Charlotte didn't know anything.

Her body lay slumped against the ZPM pedestal, barely breathing; her mind lay coiled in reams of darkness, sinking slowly to the bottom of unconsciousness.

* * *

There was a party in full swing by the time she regained consciousness and made her way back to the control room. Despite her best efforts of staying in the background John noticed her and waved her over. Her mind was still too drugged with exhaustion to even think about refusing so she shuffled towards him with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, which, given her condition, was almost negligible. She was awake enough to notice Dr. Weir and Lt. Ford standing with John along with another woman who Charlotte did not recognise.

"Charlotte, there you are," John said, entirely to perky for the mermaid's liking, "this is Teyla Emmagan, leader of the Athosian people," A quick hand gesture on John's part directed her attention to other people not of the expedition, sluggishly Charlotte put two and two together and gather that they were the 'Athosians.' "Teyla, this is Doctor Charlotte Watsford."

Charlotte smiled at the other woman, taking in the soft glow that seemed to surround her, Teyla was definitely something special.

"Are you well, you look pale?" the Athosian leader looked genuinely concerned.

The first thought through Charlotte's head was 'raising an ancient city from the depths of the ocean does that,' the second thought was 'keep as close to the truth as possible and steer the conversation somewhere else.' So naturally Charlotte's reply was:

"I'm fine, I just woke up from a nap," She looked sideways at John, "Speaking of; I take a nap and suddenly we're on the surface and you're throwing a party with interplanetary guests. Mission was a success then?"

"Are you kidding?" unnoticed by Charlotte, Dr. MacKay and Dr. Beckett had moved over to join the group. "It was a complete disaster," MacKay proclaimed.

"I can't believe I slept through all the good stuff," Charlotte said, subtly prompting the group. MacKay took that bait, launching into what Charlotte assumed was an over dramatization of the events that had transpired during her 'nap.'

* * *

Tadum! ish... so yeah, that was that. reveiw or don't, your choice.

um... I'm not going to list this as complete beacause I might do some more... maybe, don't hold your breath though.

Also there were a few references to another H2O crossover I'm working on... okay so its a bit of crack disguised as a XO, so if the mirror and the bag thin confused you sorry, that's my fault.

last thing... How many of you spotted the 'very subtle' reference to Byrnes' career?


	2. Hide and Speech

And so after a really long time, here it is: Chapter two, which will no doubt lead to much flaming because I can't help myself whenit comes to crossovers.

* * *

H2O Atlantis:

Hide and Speech

* * *

She could feel the faintest rise and fall of the ocean, she could smell the salty-brine on the air, and she could also feel the hand shaking her shoulder trying to rouse her from her sleep.

In her sleep induced state of mental fuzziness she quickly jumped to the conclusion she was on her research yacht being woken by the others, and the others needing to wake her was never a good thing.

Acting in what her sleep muddle mind felt was an appropriate response she flung her arms out, snapped open her eyes, quickly regretted it thanks to the bright light and squeezed them shut again, shouted… something rather unintelligible, and promptly fell down the stairs she had been seated on.

Lying at the bottom of the short staircase, thankful she had only been halfway up the stairs; she was reminded of another time, another staircase and a much darker circumstance that had led to her falling.

"What did she say?' a voiced asked, pulling her back to the present before she could reminisce.

"I have no idea," Another voice replied.

"Neither do I," Charlotte croaked; her throat alarmingly dry, "and I'm the one who said it. Pain racked her body as she tried to move, 'why,' she wondered, 'do I always seem to hurt more the next day, surely my state of post traumatic shock isn't that good of a pain killer.'

"I feel like I've been rolled on by a _Charlie_." Charlotte groaned.

"Who is Charlie?' a third voice –Weirs? - asked.

"Or what?" the first voice –Mackay- added.

"_Charlie_, the humpback whale, from 'Ocean Girl.'" Charlotte clarified, blinking up at the people around her.

"Okay, that's great but what were you doing sleeping on the stairs," Mackay asked.

"I was only planning on sitting down for a moment," Charlotte replied in a huff as Ford and Sheppard reached down to help her up. She bent her legs so she could push away from the stairs as they went but went the grabbed her arms and pulled her muscles screamed in torment, the amount of power it had taken to raise the city had depleted her magical reserve and put a serious dent into her physical energy as well.

A piercing scream tore from her throat, and for a moment, she was back at the bottom of the other staircase.

_

* * *

_

_Five sets of feet hurried down the stairs the Charlotte had flung herself down moments before._

"_Get it out of me," her voice was hoarse as she growled at the five young women, four of them Mermaids like her, one an average high school student carrying a small brown creature._

"_How?" one of them asked as two of the mermaids tried to haul her to her feet, attempted to make her stand on broken legs. She screamed; her voice echoed by the being hidden within her whipped out into the night soaring outwards, upwards away._

* * *

The medical bay was the first room to be secured and set up; after Charlotte had fainted the expedition had placed it at top priority, an idea which was reinforced less than a day later when the Athosian man Halling broke his leg.

At first Carson had kept an eye on Charlotte's vitals the old fashion way, checking her pulse every so often, then he had her hooked up to a series of monitors. He'd meant to run up a series of tests, blood work mostly, but with the broken leg and getting the 'sick bay' properly set up had taken time, by the time he'd had a chance to run the tests his medical team had had to hook the marine scientist up to an IV to prevent dehydration, although one of his nurses had pointed out to him that Charlotte had appeared to dehydrate at a surprising rate.

Since Charlotte's medical file, which was almost non-existent, made no mention of the anomaly, and since it didn't list whether she was ATA positive or not, Beckett added a genetics test to his list of tests to run on the unconscious woman.

As the chief of medical staff stared at his patient's test results he wondered if the dehydration rate was normal for… whatever it was the red haired doctor actually was. From where he sat Beckett could see the sleeping woman and the monitors she was hooked up to, all reading normal for a sleeping woman; at least for a sleeping _human_ woman.

To be fair he had only really known Charlotte for a day, but he rather liked the girl, there was something about her that reminded him of his youth, sitting with his mother as she told him stories about Selkies, Seonaidh and the creatures of the sea, there was an air about the young scientist that gave the impression of possibilities, as though a being of myth or legend could walk around the corner at any time.

Of course the illusion was certainly aided by the whole 'stationed in the lost city of Atlantis battling space vampires' issue. Maybe that was the way it was with all of her species, Dr Beckett resolved to ask her when she woke up.

* * *

When she did wake it was to a dark room and a soft, rhythmic beeping. The scent reminded her of a hospital, not that she'd been a patient in one for a very long time. At first she wondered what had woken her, sitting up slowly and testing her muscles she was pleased to find her body had recovered from her nearly suicidal rescue of the city. A quick mental checked confirmed that her 'magical' reserved were still severely depleted, she would likely have trouble conjuring anything more than a light breeze, refilling and/or chilling a glass of water for at least another day. In her current state she doubted she would be able to even heat water well enough to boil it or make steam.

But none of this explained what had woken her; until it moved.

Charlotte drew a shuddering gasp of air into her body, almost retching at the feel. The sensation was so unpleasant she didn't even spare a second as to why her extra sensory awareness had been the first of her powers to recover.

It was like a leech made of oil, thick, pungent, tar like oil, squirming on her back, in her back, just between her shoulder blades.

"It's a shadow." The quiet, feminine voice was distorted, like someone talking through water. Charlotte turned towards the source, and found nothing.

"Alice?" she called out softly into the dark. "You there?" Carefully Charlotte slid off the bed, detaching the various monitors and the IV as she went. Her eyes swept the area checking every reflective surface for movement. The mermaid finally found what she was looking for in one of the doors' glass patterns.

"What's a shadow?" Charlotte asked, waiting for the reflection to answer.

"That thing you're feeling," came the reflections reply, though the voice did not belong to Charlotte, which was not so surprising considering neither did the reflection. "Nice 'jammies by the way." The girl in the glass added eyeing Charlotte's red hospital pyjamas, "Very smexy."

"Oh shut up Alice," the pyjama clad doctor retorted, "Just because you don't get such awesome PJ's is no reason to… wait the creepy super evil leech thingy is a shadow? How does that make sense?" Charlotte's mind suddenly snapping back on topic.

"One of the Athosian brats got lost; some of the storage closets are actually some sort of teletransporter type thing-a-majigs." The pair paused for a moment to be impressed, "anyway he touches some weird ass container and poof, smoosh, kawoosh out slumps this shadow thingy… it scared me Charlotte, I can show you where it is but… just don't make me go too close."

"I won't, any suggestions on how to deal with it?" The red haired woman asked the blonde in the glass.

"I'm not sure, it was weird and scary and yet there was something familiar about it. I just can't think what it is that it reminds me of, so maybe we should start with the container… or better yet let the humans deal with it." Alice's expression was hopeful as she waited for Charlotte's decision.

"This _thing_ is irking me, it's irksome, I'll get close enough to check it out and then we can re-evaluate the situation, okay? You don't have to get to close if you don't want too." The blonde reflection nodded slowly, took a deep breath, and shimmered. Alice's normal white blouse and pale blue under-bust vest-dress were replaced by a blue dress with a diagonal hem and white bike shorts, her black ankle boots stretched up to her knees and her normal white stockings were nowhere to be seen. In her arms Alice held a ridiculously large and dangerous looking gun.

"Locked and loaded boss," Alice said with a scary conviction, "let's go get this creep."

"Alice," Charlotte said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes, "you're a mirror slave, a remnant spirit tied to a magical piece of glass; you can only exist in reflective surfaces as a reflection, what in the name of the all things magical do you think you're going to do with a gun?"

"Moral support, and by the way, that total smexy medic man with the way cute accent and the scrappy beard ran some blood tests and stuff so you two may have to have a chat about doctor patient confidentiality." Charlotte opened her mouth to demand a further explanation, or possible just to shout 'what the hell' but Alice continued on changing the subject rapidly.

"The shadows this way, come on!" taking off down the hall Charlotte had to run to keep up, following a trail of motion on glass, winding further and further into unfamiliar territory and further and further away from the safety of the expedition.

* * *

The run through the city took a lot longer than Charlotte had hoped for, Alice had changed directions more times than the mermaid cared to count, a brief inquiry had Alice looking abashed and peeved as she explained that she had to keep 'zone-flashing' in order to find the shadow leech, which kept moving.

Just when Charlotte had finally begun to run out of breath they had closed in on the creature, and stopped.

"No," Charlotte whimpered, identifying the familiar feeling almost immediately. After all, she had just flashed back to the last time she'd dealt with a similar being. "On second thoughts let's let the humans deal with this." In the glass beside her Alice's eyes widened as she finally make the connection. In unison the duo turned and sprinted back the way they had come, unfortunately their retreat came too late and the shadow, having noticed Charlotte's energy reserves – limited as they were - was in hot pursuit.

Charlotte crashed into a closed door with none of her usual grace and tumbled to the floor.

"Run!" Charlotte urged the woman in the glass, "If this ends up like last time you need to find someone to help." Alice nodded and ran knowing that the only thing she could do to help was to find someone who could see her.

The distraught mermaid, trapped between a shadow and a closed door, tried to slow her breathing; grasping at her pendant, one of the second set of three Max had made, identical to the original set, bar the stones.

Pressed backwards onto the door as much as she could, Charlotte unleashed a look on the shadow which had been known to literally freeze lakes.

"Come on then, which one are you," The terrified young doctor called out, "I know what you are, I've face one of you before, I defeated _Wrath_ and I will defeat you." _As long as you're not _Pride, she added silently. She suppressed a shudder as memories of the being Wrath tried to resurface, those she could deal with later for now she had a dark mass of '_eurgh'_ to deal with. A thin tendril of darkness reached out for her, caressing her cheek in a mockery of affection as it drained her limited power, its emotions filtering back along the connection.

Pain, Anger, Betrayal, Self-loathing, HUNGER.

"_Gluttony_," Charlotte spoke an ancient word, the translation a sin, and the creature pulled back at the sound of its name just as the doors whooshed open behind her, two sets of hands grabbing her red hospital pyjamas and hauling her backwards, the doors sliding closed just millimetres from her toes. Squashing a sense of triumph for escaping the semi-corporeal sin she looked around at her rescuers. John Sheppard and Aiden Ford were still clutching her PJ's, while Rodney Mackay stood by the door controls.

"Nice weather we're having, bit too much shade for my liking though," Charlotte quipped also trying to squash the need to be sick lest she puke all over their new military commander.

* * *

"What were you thinking?" Elizabeth asked the young red head, the woman didn't reply.

"It's only a mild burn, you're lucky it didn't do worse," Dr Beckett said as he examined Charlotte's cheek, "I'd like to put some cream on it if that's alright." Both Carson and Charlotte knew there was an underlying question: could he put cream on it or would she react badly to the healing salve.

"Sure, I have a specially made burn balm in my bag though, I'd rather use that." Charlotte indicated to the cream and lavender bag sitting on a nearby bench top. Major Sheppard grabbed it by the straps and tossed it to her gently.

"Dr Watsford," Elizabeth tried again as the marine scientist found and applied the balm, which looked to her like a largish pot of lip balm or candle wax. "What were you thinking running off like that, you could have been seriously injured, maybe even killed."

"I was… sleep-walking?" no one in the room bought the excuse.

"Yeah, well you could have been sleep dying," Dr McKay snarked from nearby.

"Hey Dr Smexy, what's with the tacky jewellery," Charlotte shot back, indicating to the glowing green brooch on McKay's chest. "I'm sorry if I made any one worry, I'm fine and you boys need to go plot and plan to stop this shadow vampire thingy. Now shoo."

"Doctor Watsford?" Teyla's soft voice came from the doorway, the room's occupants turned to her and Charlotte smiled at the woman and her young companion.

"Ms Emmagan, to what do I owe the pleasure?" the young boy blushed lightly trying to shrink in on himself and Charlotte knew why.

"Jinto has something he would like to say." Both the Athosian woman and the mermaid glanced briefly at the rooms other occupants who got the message and quickly began filtering out of the room, Elizabeth throwing a 'this isn't finished' look over her shoulder on her way. Charlotte gave a small nod in reply then turned to smile at Jinto, patting the bed beside her in invitation.

Hesitantly the Athosian boy climbed up beside her, the sat quietly for a moment until Jinto received an encouraging nod from Teyla who stayed nearby.

"I am very sorry Doctor Watsford," He began, "You were injured because of me."

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked seeking clarification, though she was sure this was the 'Athosian brat' Alice had been talking about earlier. "I was injured because of my own actions."

"But I let the shadow out-"

"And I'm the idiot who tried to shake its hand with my face." Teyla and Jinto looked at her strangely. '_Note to self: humour and sarcastic snarking do not translate so well trans-galactically._'

"Look Jinto, you may have let the… _shadow_ out of it box but I am the one who put myself in harm's way, I am just as much to blame as you are _if_ there is really any blame to be had." Charlotte pulled him gently into a one armed hug, "Sometimes things just happen and no one is really to fault, because Stuff Happens… like when the expedition went to Athos and the Wraith came, no one meant for it to happen it just did, do you blame us for that?" Jinto shook his head.

"Stuff happens," He replies with a small unsure smile.

"Congratulations my young apprentice, you have just taken the first and most important step on the road of 'Surfer Zen.' What happens, happens, it's what comes after and how we deal with it that matters. Thank you for being brave enough to come talk with me about it." Jinto was smiling widely now and even Teyla had a small smile on her face, then Jinto frowned.

"What's Surfer Zen?"

"It's a way of life, a way of living and a way of seeing the… universe and your place in it, I'll tell you more about it later alright?" Jinto nodded. "Alright, now let's go find me a room and my stuff; I really need to get out of these hospital scrubs." Charlotte said picking at the red pyjama's in mock distaste. The trio embarked on their mission, only the red haired mermaid noticing the personless reflection of a blonde woman watching them from a nearby windowpane.

* * *

In the end due to the lack of rooms currently available Charlotte ended up bunking in the same room as Teyla and Doctor Weir. It had taken almost two hours to locate all of Charlotte's things, both personal luggage and professional equipment.

Glad to be in her own clothes again, even if it was a uniform Charlotte set out her sleeping mat and a pillow leaving most of her things packed so she wouldn't have to re-pack when she moved into her own room in the next few days. The only things she made sure to unpack were a mirror, a food dish, a can of food and a small ball. After checking to make sure no one was coming along the corridor, Teyla and Jinto having left earlier to attend to other things, Charlotte activated the ball. A flash of light later and the red head now shared the room with a short furry brown creature.

"Eeeeee!" the creatures greeting noise was both chirp and full of reproach.

"I know Diana, I'm sorry, I've been unconscious in the infirmary."

"VEE?" Charlotte chuckled at the creature's sudden worry and filled the food bowl from the can.

"I'm fine, I just overexerted myself raising the lost city of Atlantis from the bottom of an alien ocean."

"Eee-eee?" Diana looked suitably impressed, laughing softly Charlotte scooped Diana up into her arms ruffling her fur gently and planting a kiss on her furry head.

"Eat, I have to go see what the humans are going to do about the local _Sin_." Diana nuzzled her humanoid friend then leapt to obey, after all she was really hungry, the poke' ball's stasis ability was only so useful.

* * *

Charlotte arrived at the control room just as the power was being shut down.

"What's going on?" She asked as casually as possible, Mackay turned and glared at her like she was something he'd scraped off the bottom of his shoe – or worse, an idiot.

"Were you not just listening to Elizabeth's city wide?"

"Yeeees, but what's happening?"

"John's still waiting for the creature, hopefully it will go straight back in the box." Dr. Weir answered quickly before Rodney could say something offensive.

Charlotte flinched lightly at Weir's unknowing reference.

"It won't," Damn but Charlotte hated breaking bad news. "She's hungry but not stupid, she knows the container held her but will never fill her, never let her eat."

"Oh and how would you know that?"

"The Sea is a strange mistress and so are her servants, especially those who are daughters of The Moon. When it touched me in the hallway I felt its mind, so now I know." Before she could clarify her statement the John's voice came over the radio.

"It's here."

Charlotte clasped one hand around her silver pendant, rubbing her thumb across the three line design on the back, and prayed. 'Please let him make it out of this, stupid danger-attracting human.'  
The tension in the control room was so thick it would have taken a chainsaw to cut; the flame of Weir's candle began to tremble with Charlotte's worry, though the mermaid was using no power.

"Sheppard to the Control Room, it's gone, took one look at the box and took off, even with the power on."

In the control room MacKay began to swear under his breath and Weir put her face in her hands breathing slowly with relief and disappointment. Charlotte activated her radio link.

"Watsford to Sheppard, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, it didn't come anywhere near me."

"Didn't or wouldn't?"

"…Well it came half way into the room, or at least it filled half the room but it gave me a wide berth, maybe it's intimidated by my dashing good looks."

Mackay snorted, Charlotte and Elizabeth shared a quick smile.

"Turn off the device and report to the Meeting Room, we need a new plan," Elizabeth ordered looking at Charlotte. "Mackay, Charlotte, I'd like both of you to come as well." The expedition leader turned, heading for the Meeting room and contacting Teyla over her headset as she went. Eager to avoid the question she knew MacKay was dying to ask the mermaid scampered after Weir as nonchalantly as possible.

* * *

The tension had built again and was close to snapping when John slunk into the meeting room. He'd had to walk the long way around since the power was still out in the city, yet somehow he'd known the shortest, easiest route to take; he was certain it had to do with the whispered murmurs he could not quiet hear, that he had been hearing since he stepped foot in Lantea.

Atlantis, he meant Atlantis. Didn't he?

"How did you know? And don't give me that strange sea mistress crap." Mackay snapped out the second John sat down, confused the pilot turned to Charlotte, at whom the question was directed.

"I told you, when the creature and I touched I got a flash of sorts, I could feel her mind peripherally."

"How do you know it was peripheral, have you done the mind meld before?" Carson asked. For a moment John wondered what the doctor was doing there, then realised as a head of department he was probably required to attend most meetings of this sort.

Charlotte frowned lightly at Carson and the Scott blushed lightly, looking slightly ashamed and embarrassed though John couldn't figure out why; somehow, despite the unlikeliness, it was a perfectly legitimate question.  
For a moment the murmurs bubbled like laughter, but it was only for a split second before they returned to the worried tone they had carried for the past few days.

"It's complicated." The red head replied, her frown deepening. "Teyla, you said you cannot sense a wraith right now correct?" The Athosian nodded in confirmation.

"What about something that feels _like_ a wraith but not?" Teyla frowned as well, closing her eyes and seeming to focus. After a moment she opened her eyes, turning to the woman beside her, before she could say anything Charlotte held out her hand, palm up. A moment of confused pause and Teyla took the offered hand, both women closing their eyes and focusing.

"Like a wraith but not." Teyla said eyes still closed.  
"Mmm, that's what I was afraid of. Wraith are never satiated are they?"  
"No."

MacKay cleared his throat loudly, "If you two are done with your séance?"

"So they get food and leave right?"  
"Yes"

"So let's pack this thing a picnic lunch and send it on its way." John said, the words out of his mouth before he realised, the reason Mackay had grown impatient: neither woman's lips had moved since they'd joined hands.

"Huh," Charlotte's eyes were opened now, staring at him curiously. "That'd probably work actually."

"No way, we are not, we can't I mean" everyone turned to the spluttering MacKay, Charlotte's hand slipping out of Teyla's.

"Can't what MacKay?" Elizabeth asked.

"The only sort of picnic food that thing's liable to be interested in is a naquada generator and we kind of need those since our only working ZedPM is nearly depleted."

"If we put it on a MALP and lead it through the 'gate to an uninhabited world," John cut in, "or would you rather keep it as a pet, the thing's not exactly house broken MacKay."

"Fine," the lead scientist groused, actually pouting.

"Alright then that's our plan, let's get to it," Elizabeth said calmly as she stood, she like everyone else in the room not in the know ignoring the way John had phrased his suggestion.

* * *

Teyla stood beside Charlotte as MacKay and his minions prepped the MALP. The Athosian woman was curious about this woman who was and wasn't from Earth. Less than an hour ago the red haired doctor had taken her hand and helped her to stretch out her mind further and clearer than she ever could before.

During that time she had felt Charlotte's mind, the same way she had felt the Wraith, but Charlotte's mind was much different. The animalistic, hungering painful thoughts were missing from this contact; in their place was the rumble of storm clouds, the gentle sigh of water lapping the shore, a beautiful sound like music that Teyla could not name. There was the cold crispness of winter and the humid heat of summer, and mixing between them a cool, warm feeling and the light of the moon.

No person Teyla had met had ever felt like that, even when she was not able to contact the actual mind of the person she could get a feel of them, until this woman who was and wasn't from Earth, who was and wasn't there. Like John, Teyla realised with a start.

"Alright, we're ready." MacKay called as he bounded up the steps. Peter Grodin restored the power and dialled the gate, noting the location of the creature on the head up display nearby.

As the Shadow got closer Charlotte's hand began to tremble, John subtly moved closer until his arm was pressed against her, and Teyla, standing on her other side slid her warm stead hand into Charlotte's quivering one.

As the creature spilled into the 'gate room filling it up in a sea of darkness Charlotte's breath sped up, she began to panic and John gripped her other hand carefully.

'What really happened in that hall way?' John's mind voice was faint barely there even with contact but the two women heard it. Neither replied, Teyla did not know and Charlotte did not want to relive that memory again so soon.

To focused on keeping Charlotte calm, John and Teyla missed most of the conversation over the MALP's lack of response, about why the creature wasn't leaving, John also almost missed MacKay standing on the stairway, shield device in his hand.

"MacKay!"

The scientist was submerged in the inky Shadow before John had even made it to the stairs. For a moment no one dared even breathe, and then the Shadow began to undulate as it swooped through the 'gate, leaving an unconscious Rodney laying on the floor next a powerless, generatorless MALP.

Every one present dashed down to the fallen doctor, they all released a relieved breath when they realised he was alive, someone called for Carson and John shared a joke with Rodney about passing out and Charlotte collapsed on the floor next to the scientist, hugging Rodney so tightly John thought about finding a crowbar.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou, you brave silly man." The mermaid said into the man's shirt, her words muffled and barely understandable. She finally let him go when Carson and his team spilled into the room.

"Oh yes take your time," MacKay snarked at the medical team, trying to regain his composure, "Man injured here, no hurry."

* * *

_I am so, so, so, so, so sorry for the delay, I accept I am a terrible person please forgive me._

_And for those wondering: No the presence of an Eevee (Pokémon) does NOT mean Atlantis is going to be overrun with the little creatures… outside of the Omake files._

_Diana is there because she is part of the story line of how Charlotte got/met Alice, no Diana = no Alice and Alice is kind of important for Charlotte's arch during the invasion and afterwards__, also without Alice Charlotte couldn't have kept her secret so long _and_ be a marine scientist__._

_I'd rather set the ground work now then be accused of pulling an Ex Dues Machina outta my hiney. Don't worry if you're confused, you find out later._

_MORE IMPORTANTLY:_

_Those who spotted the in joke to Brittney's career in chapter one get props._

_Now find the joke I hid in this chapter. Hint: it's not directly about her career._

_I'll give you the answer to 'what the heck do you mean chapter one joke' in my next instalment. _

_Yes that's right there will be one._

_Oh right you'll be wanting the Omake file… Well guess what?_

_Omake files start in Chapter Three._

Several bones were broken, of that she was certai_n. The _thing_ inside her screamed, a long high pitch howl, furious with Charlotte's defiance. Or maybe it was just surprised that she could fight back, that she wanted to fight back._


	3. 38 Breaths

OKAY HERE WE GO:

So I'm sorry for once again taking so long… Lissa stop glaring… or I'll steal your chocolate… Wait! No! I'M SORRY!

…

Let's move on.

Hidden Jokes:

-Chapter one: In chapter one when I wrote the meeting between Charlotte and the other Mer's I mentioned a flip top bed with ocean access underneath, Charlotte got the idea from a telemovie called 'mermaids.' This is a joke (to me) because Charlotte's actress Brittany Byrnes actually acted in that movie as Tess, whose mother was secretly a mermaid magically enslaved to Tess's father.

-Chapter two: Charlotte make a reference to Ocean Girl; this series was created by the same guy that made H2O, and alos concerns young people dealing with life and girls who can breath underwater... yes I know not that impressive.

…

Once more moving on.

Enjoy the chapter and stay tuned for the Omake afterwards… keeping in mind everything before Diana's appearance in the Omake can be treated as story canon.

* * *

H2O: Atlantis

38 Breaths

* * *

Charlotte danced around her new lab rearranging her equipment while music blasted from a set of speakers on the central table. Diana pranced around the table, trying to copy some of the dance moves Charlotte made. The red-haired, magic-wielding scientist circled the large room dozens of times, making minute adjustments to practically everything almost every circuit.

"CHARLOTTE!"

"GAH!" Alice's sudden shout from the medium sized mirror hung on the wall startled Charlotte, causing her to drop the extremely delicate piece of equipment she was holding. Diana pressed the pause button on the music player with her paw and Alice, Charlotte and Diana stared at the smashed Microscope.

"Damn," Charlotte said breaking the horrified stillness, "now what is so important that you had to scare the heck out of me?" she asked Alice, fixing the non-corporeal blonde with an icy glare.

"John, he and his team, their 'jumper is stuck in the gate."

"Should I call RACQ?" Alice's expression remained serious despite Charlotte's attempt at humour, slowly realisation came to the mermaid.

Alice watched the colour drain from Charlotte's face, then suddenly the mermaid bolted, out the door and down the hall towards the control room. Alice spared a glance for Diana.

"Stay," and followed the doctor down the hall.

* * *

"What's going on is he alright," Elizabeth felt her heart skip a beat as the red-head appeared next to her.

"John's been attacked by some creature, they were on their way back but the 'jumper was damaged on return, the drive pods are jammed and they're stuck in the gate. Aiden's going over the details now, Carson and his team are working on a way to help John and the other scientists are working on a way to get the jumper free, Zalenka's working in the 'jumper bay. They only have another twenty minutes and change before the gate closes."

"What can I do?" Charlotte grabbed Elizabeth's arm with surprising strength.

"Do you know anything about alien bugs or 'jumper technology?" Charlotte shook her head. "Then I don't know what you can do except pray." the elder woman said sadly.

"Pray! I can do that, I can do that," for the second time in five minutes Charlotte took off running, this time leaving behind a bewildered Doctor Weir.

* * *

Several minutes later Elizabeth noticed Charlotte re-enter the gate room and make her way _behind_ the Stargate with a rather large armful of things. Elizabeth was busy listening to Lt. Ford's report and paid her no mind.

Behind the gate Charlotte was working quickly, her bag of holding slung over one should, her arms able to hold only a small amount of the things she felt necessary, she really hoped no one who had seen her would notice the mass discrepancy.

First she put down a short folding table she had picked up in Japan several years ago, on top of that she placed a simple cotton cloth, and on the cloth covered table she placed several statuettes, a bowl of oil mixed with smelling salts, with a twitch of her fingers she lit the surface before covering it with a glass like multi coloured crystal, she waited for a moment as the fire inside threw rainbow light about the alcove, until a sweet scent permeated the air, then she took out her paints from her bag and began to graffiti the ancient wall of the sacred and mythical city of Atlantis, and as she painted she prayed.

With every brush stroke Charlotte called out to the universe, to every power she knew, to every power she didn't, begging and pleading and asking for the safe return of John and his team. Her voice lifted up in a chant barely audible over the murmur of the gate, an ancient song in the lost language of Aquiteran, the language of the mother, the goddess and creator of mermaids, Atargatis, the language that had been passed down to Charlotte by the former _Wrath_, the lost lady Calypso.

With her painting done Charlotte sat before the Altar behind the gate, stretching out with her power, weak as it was trying to feel _through_ the gate, she could almost sense them, John laying slumped against the door, Teyla by his side, MacKay off to the side near the power control panel, and Aiden standing closer to the door to the cockpit. And a darkness, smaller and more brittle than _Gluttony_ had been but faintly similar none the less, and it was attached to John.

Charlotte beat back the urge to be sick, John was going to be fine, they had the best minds in two galaxies at their disposal, some one would think of something.

A set of raised voices from the main area of the gate room caught her attention, grabbing her bag and paints she ducked out from behind the giant transit puddle.

"Elizabeth what's wrong?" She asked, joining the expedition's leader on the stairs near a group of Athosians.

"We merely wish to begin Teyla's funerary rites." Halling replied instead; Charlotte stopped breathing.

"What no, when, no I can feel her she's not dead, she's not dead right, there's still time?" the red head looked desperately at Weir.

"Teyla's fine," the other woman confirmed, "and she's going to stay that way."

"You little - how dare you, how could you, what sort of man are you, how can you wish Teyla dead?" Charlotte fixed Halling and the other Athosians with a glare that had snap frozen boiling water on several occasions. "Get out of my sight before I send you to meet your ancestors."

"Charlotte!"

"No, don't try shutting me up, they've given up, they are consciously sending way-bad-vibes out into the cosmos, that attitude, that 'let's get the funeral over with even though there's still a chance' attitude is just them wishing her dead. There's no other way to see it."

"Were you not just praying for your friends souls?" Halling sneered, he thought he had her.

"I was praying for their safe return, for the lost to come home, I cannot help any other way, I have not the skill, nor expertise, so I am staying out of the way helping as best I can, you are hindering with your bad attitude." Charlotte would deny it later but at that point she flared her powers just a little, lacing the air with a sense of _presence_. Just a little, and only for appropriately dramatic background effect.

The Athosians looked abashed, and a little afraid.

"Why don't you go back to your rooms and wait, I'm sure Teyla will want to see you all when she returns." Elizabeth said gently, completely suppressing her need to feel smug. The Athosians nodded and left. "Nicely done, a little dramatic though." She turned her gaze to Charlotte, the red head shrugged.

"I felt it was completely appropriate. By the way I may have graffitied on the wall, how is every one?"

"John feels miserable but he's stable, everyone's still working on the problem… did you just say you graffitied Atlantis."

"I said may have, which means yes, I'm going to keep Zalenka company." Charlotte left as quickly as she could without actually running. Elizabeth smiled slightly and shook her head; the younger doctor was interesting if nothing else.

* * *

Charlotte slipped into the jumper, trying not to distract the Czech as he worked, he noticed her none the less. He gave her a quick glance and proceeded to ignore her, so Charlotte made her way into the cockpit. She was wondering how the drive pods worked, how they could be fixed as she sat down, one hand brushing the pilot's console as she lowered herself into the seat.

Pain wracked through her body, she turned, glimpsing a display screen before she toppled over with a sharp scream. The pain subsided, leaving Charlotte lying on the floor breathing hard. She knew that pain, had suffered through it dozens of times a week for the past odd decade. She'd become used to it and when she was expecting it she could handle it without flinching, but she'd had no reason to expect it.

"What is wrong?" Zelenka was staring at her.

"I'm fine… leg cramp, very sudden, I'm fine." Zelenka shrugged and went back to work, muttering in his native language about idiot Americans.

"I'm Australian," she snapped. Zelenka spared her a startled glance and shut up. Charlotte pulled a sketch pad and pencil from her bag, the display screen imbedded in her memory and itching to go on paper. With economical strokes she had the whole screen replicated in a matter of moments. Standing up she shuffled over to Zelenka.

"Here, this might help," she muttered, flexing the fingers of her drawing hand as she held out the sketch with the other. Zelenka looked at the picture, skimmed the 'writing' and turned back to the control console he was working on, tapping a few crystals the duo exchanged pleased glances as they heard the drive pods retract. The Czech spared her a brief 'well done' and hurried off to the control room, pausing in the door way to return and retrieve Charlotte's diagram, which she had already removed from the book for him.

Charlotte stayed in the 'jumper, away from the consoles, sat on one of the benches in the back, gazing at a small ampule with a spherical coral coloured gem inside it, an ampule that was normally attached to her bag.

"What was that just now?"

"I don't know; you've never reacted like that to anything other than the GEM." Alice replied the front screen of the 'jumper. "Charlotte, have you notice, the writing in this place… the architecture, even the feel of it… it's like…"

"Yeah, I noticed; now the question is it coincidence or does it mean something? All the worlds, over and over basic and tiny but there, like echoes of Atlantis rippling outwards through the multiverse. An Origin point or cause you think? So then the GEM is…" Charlotte trailed off, Fingering the empty earing in her right ear, a thousand and five possibilities whirling through her mind.

* * *

Charlotte was jolted out of her reverie when Alice gave a loud whoop.

"Charlotte quick, they did it!" The mermaid looked up at the girl in the glass and grinned as the jumper bay doors opened, a 'jumper lifting up into the bay as a medical team swarmed in. Charlotte's grin faltered. She could only feel five life forces in the 'jumper. Not one of them John's.

"John?" Scrambling out of her 'jumper she dashed over to the returning party. The medical team loading John onto a gurney, a portable defib machine nearby. Charlotte watched as Carson shocked John, his medical team moving quickly, jabbing an adrenalin-filled needle into the major's unmoving body. Seconds ticked by, the medical team becoming more frantic, finally Charlotte snapped, hurrying over to John's side.

"Don't you dare stay dead," she all but screamed at him, slamming a fist down over his heart, static swarming off it as she tensed it twice in a mockery of a heartbeat. Using her powers she forced his heart to beat, his blood to pulse, and his lungs to breathe.

"Don't you dare," She whispered, one fist over his heart, tensing in rhythm with her own heart, and his, her other hand palm down, fingers twitching ever so slightly as she made him breathe. Teyla stepped up to John's other side, placing her hands over Charlotte's.

"Please come back to us John." Almost like he was unable to disobey Teyla's quiet command John coughed, and started breathing on his own, his heart beating by itself, and his eyes opened.

"That was a bad plan, let's not do it ever again." The two women laughed in relief, followed by everyone else in the 'jumper bay. Carson took over quickly gently moving Charlotte and Teyla away so his team could wheel John to the Medical bay for observation and further treatment. After a brief hug Teyla and Charlotte followed behind slowly, leaning on each other as they went.

* * *

0m4k30m4k30m4k3

Omake Files

Besieged – part one: Insurgents

Major John Sheppard was bored. He'd been staring at the infirmary walls for almost two days now; he was ready to get back to work… or at least out of the room. He let loose a sigh of the wearily depressed, no one had come to see him or keep him entertained since yesterday.

John was in the middle of planning his great escape when Carson walked in.

"How're you feeling major?"

"Ready to get out of here." The reply was instantaneous, his expression hopeful.

"Aye, I'm sure you think so, but you were dead for a fair while there major, another day or two and I'm sure you really will be ready to leave."

The major in question pouted, and Doctor Watsford chose that moment to walk in with a fish bowl in her hands.

"Hey, what's with the poutiness." She smirked, sidling up to John's bedside, placing the fish bowl gently on the nearby table.

"Carson won't let me leave." John added just a hint of playful whinging to his voice.

"Perfect, you'll have time to enjoy my newly discovered glow-in-the-dark Atlantian sea anemone." She added a brief hand flourish in the direction of the fish bowl. John and Carson eyed the watery flower thing in the bowl.

"It's not glowing." Charlotte raised her eyebrow at John.

"'In-the-dark' John, 'in-the-dark.'" John looked suitably abashed and opened his mouth to retort when a ball of brown and cream coloured fur jumped on the table next to the anemone. Two long ears twitched and a paw came up, reached over the rim and tapped the surface of the water.

"Eeeee!" the anemone move slightly, drawing into itself. John and Carson gaped.

"Diana," Charlotte put her hand on her hips and glared at the creature.

"Eee?"

"What did I tell you, stay in my room or in my lab, don't wander about."

"uh… Charlotte?"

"Yes Carson?"

"Charlotte, is that? Carson… am I hallucinating? Is that?" John stuttered.

"Ah shizno, John, Carson… This is Diana… my Eevee… from a different dimension, she's been my companion for roughly ten years now…"

"That is just… huh." Carson and John just stared at the little brown and cream creature.

* * *

Elizabeth and MacKay met at the doors of the infirmary, both on their way to visits Atlantis's military commander.

"Rodney," Weir said in greeting.

"Elizabeth," MacKay replied as they entered… only to stop short as they were greeted by a rather sizable pink, egg-shaped creature.

"Chancey!" the duo gaped, and the creature ushered them to John's bed where he sat surrounded by Charlotte, Carson, Teyla and Aiden, while he played with two creatures, one a brown and cream fluff-ball the other, slightly larger and leaner one, pitch black with gold circular markings.

Teyla and Ford looked up to watch every now and then while the fiddled with a small red PDA like device.

"What is going on here?" Elizabeth demanded.

"We are choosing our Pokémon partners Doctor Weir," Teyla answered, like it was the most normal, expected and rational thing in the world.

"The Chancey's mine, I call her Nurse Chapel." Carson said proudly.

"And this is Quickstep," John said happily, "he's an Umbreon obviously."

"That's not possible, where the hell did they come from?" MacKay demanded. Charlotte tried her best to be invisible. It didn't work.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

TADA!

And please remember everything up until Diana's attack on the anemone can be counted as actual story canon, because I like the idea of anemone nightlights.

Enjoy or don't if your reading this then you've read that so HA!

Also if you plan on Fav'ing or alerting a story leave a review as well, I'll know you like it but I won't know why, or if my speeling and grammar is goodly.


End file.
